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The Demon's Depths
« Back to Katara As told by Katara of Sharn I have discovered, after some investigation, that the fortress owned by the Iron Council of the Mror Holds known as 'Koganusan' where we soon found ourselves means, in the common tongue, 'Boat Murdered.' The irony of this name, given our arrival method to its desolate location in the middle of the Demon Wastes, is not lost on me now. The story of Koganusan, as I put it together, is as such: the place was cursed from the moment it was first founded. As we discovered on our delve into the place, it was so with good reason. Truly, we never would have entered into the place had it not been for our desperate need for maps to lead us overland to nearby Tharashk outpost where we could find proper transport back to Sharn. Surely entering into a skeletal fortress in the middle of a char plateau could not be a bad idea. I apologize that my sarcasm does not translate well to my report. To continue, it seems that Koganusan had a string of natural bad luck combined with a string of completely inept overseers. Inevitably, it was discovered by the overseers that the mountain contained large amounts of lava, defense systems were constructed using this resource. At several times, the horridly designed system was used, flooding chambers within the fortress as well as scarring the surface outside. Soon, it seemed that the dwarves within were going insane - I truly can't comprehend how it took them so long to understand this themselves - and took to fighting among themselves. The full story is detailed in the various journals and overseer reports recovered from the facility; I have attached the originals recovered from within the fortress to this document for the Foundation's consideration for delivery to the Iron Council and submitted copies to the Foundation's library. Outside the fortress, we joined forces with the remains of another expedition, that of the doctor Sigint Sokolov from Morgrave University. The beneficence of this is truly debatable as the doctor and his companions caused us much undue stress during the exploration. Truly, our investigation of Koganusan was rather uneventful (aside from an incident that lead to Hedisus and Weld finding themselves confined within a trap) until the discovery of a young dwarfling girl survivor, Dodok Astlumash, feral within the fortress. As the only member of our expedition capable of speaking in the young girl's native tongue, it was left to me to tend to her throughout the remainder of the trip. (Aside: Should the Mror Holds be unable to locate any of her family, I would recommend her being taken in by one of the Foundation's outreach programs - she is a remarkable survivor and potentially a great fit for the Foundation when she grows.) As our search for the maps continued, it became apparent the fortress had been re-inhabited by a group of roving goblins attempting to escape their enslavers. With the assistance of Sokolov's bodyguard, Gibbons, I attempted to parlay with their leadership for assistance in finding the map. Unfortunately, we were met with further hostility as the goblins had recently been spooked by hobgoblins claiming to be their overlords. This lead to further difficulties in our exploration, as I shall discuss momentarily. When the god-blessed warmachine, Weld, vanished, I traveled with the arcanist Hedisus and the druid Rose to discover the facts behind his disappearance. Our side-quest lead us deep into the mines of the fortress wherein we discovered barely recognizable creatures that were twisted versions of the beings that had once inhabited the fortress. After putting down several of the poor beings, we discovered a journal (the original is the last document attached to this report) detailing the truth behind the events leading up to the collapse of the dwarven leadership in Koganusan and revealing some ancient evil slumbered beneath the fortress. We quickly moved to recover Weld and the map (taken by survivors into the mine where they quickly ended themselves instead of going insane) and retreat from the damned dungeon. While this occurred, the private investigator Ray █████████ Stukey and the blade master Jovir had traveled with the remainder of our party into Koganusan to locate us. An unfortunate encounter between the party and Sokolov's bodyguard lead to the confinement of Gibbons for the duration of the expedition. I am unsure as to the details behind this encounter but am lead to believe it eventually lead to the goblins issuing us an ultimatum to leave immediately. Having reunited our expedition and with the maps we set out to discover, we decided not to challenge the goblin claim to the abandoned fortress and departed immediately into the wastelands and onto the most harrowing portion of our journey yet - our encounters with House Tharashk. May Olladra have mercy on the next group to venture to 'Boat Murdered.'